The desire to have hair retain a particular shape is widely held. Such style retention is generally accomplished by either of two routes: permanent chemical alteration or temporary alteration of hair style/shape. A temporary alteration is one which can be removed by water or by shampooing. Temporary style alteration can be accomplished by means of the application of a composition to dampened hair after shampooing and/or conditioning and prior to drying and/or styling. The materials used to provide setting benefits have generally been resins or gums and have been applied in the form of mousses, gels, lotions, or sprays after washing and conditioning the hair. This approach presents several significant drawbacks to the user. It requires a step, in addition to shampooing and/or conditioning, to apply the styling composition. In addition, since the style hold is provided by resin materials which set-up on the hair, the hair tends to feel sticky or stiff after application.
Recently, it has become known to utilize hydrophobic silicone grafted organic backbone copolymers as hair setting agents in rinse-off hair styling/conditioning compositions (e.g., shampoos, rinses, mousses, gels and conditioners). Compositions containing these copolymers provide the combined style retention and conditioning and/or cleansing benefits, without an application step in addition to shampooing/conditioning. These rinse-off styling/conditioning compositions typically comprise a hydrophobic, silicone grafted copolymer solubilized in a suitable hydrophobic, volatile solvent. The hydrophobic copolymer/solvent component deposits on the hair when applied during washing, conditioning or rinsing, but is not readily removed during the final rinsing with water. As the hair is dried, during or after styling, the volatile solvent evaporates to leave hair treated with the styling/conditioning copolymer.
A hair styling/conditioning copolymer should provide certain styling and conditioning benefits. The copolymer should have sufficient adhesive strength to remain on the hair after application. The copolymer should have cohesive strength and elasticity properties to provide the ability to style the hair, with or without heated implements, and then to maintain the new hair style. The copolymer should leave hair feeling soft, not as stiff as conventional resins. Such a hair styling copolymer needs to be easily cleaned from the hair (i.e., by shampooing) to prevent a build-up of the copolymer.
Hair care compositions containing various copolymer are well-known in the prior art. However, none of these references either teach or suggest compositions having a low visible residue on the hair. See for example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,208,911, to Oppliger, issued Sep. 28, 1965, 4,601,902, to Fridd et al, issued Jul. 22, 1986, 4,654,161, to Kollmeier et al., issued Mar. 31, 1987, 5,106,609, to Bolich hr. et al., issued Apr. 21, 1992, 4,693,935, to Mazurek, issued Sep. 15, 1987, European Patent Application No. 412,704, to Bolich et al., published Feb. 2, 1991
It has been observed, however, that hydrophobic, silicone grafted copolymers may be more difficult to remove from the hair by shampooing, than typical hair styling resins and gums. It is often observed, that after repeated cycles of gentle shampooing and towel/air drying, residual styling copolymer can build up on the hair to a point where the residue completely surrounds the hair shaft. At this point the residue cannot be removed from the hair with normal shampooing This build-up results in severe cosmetic and comb-ability problems for the user of these hair care products. Without being limited by theory, it is believed that the adhesive strength of the copolymer to the hair is too high relative to the internal cohesive breaking strength. This results in a situation, during gentle washing, in which styling copolymer films fracture and are removed in pieces. Some pieces remain adhered to the hair shaft and are coated with new copolymer during the next application of the composition. The residual pieces act as sites for the formation of the build-up of copolymer.
It has now been found that rinse-off compositions utilizing specifically defined hydrophobic, silicone grafted adhesive hair styling copolymers provide excellent hair conditioning and hair styling properties, and yet are easily removed from the hair by shampooing.
It is an object of the present invention to formulate rinse-off hair care compositions which provide effective hair conditioning and/or cleansing and style retention properties, in which the conditioning and styling copolymer can be easily removed from the hair by shampooing.
It is also an object of the present invention to formulate hair care compositions which provide conditioning and style retention in one product, in which the conditioning and styling copolymer can be easily removed from the hair by shampooing.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide an improved method for styling and conditioning hair by utilizing a single rinse-off hair care composition.
These and other objects, as may be apparent from the description below, can be obtained by the present invention.
The present rinse-off hair care compositions can comprise, consist of, or consist essentially of any of the required or optional ingredients and/or limitations described herein.
All percentages and ratios are calculated on a weight basis unless otherwise indicated. All percentages are calculated based on total composition unless otherwise indicated.
All ingredient levels refer to the active level of that ingredient, and are exclusive of solvents, by-products, or other impurities that may be present in commercially available sources, unless otherwise indicated.